For purposes of indicating marketing parameters, e.g., belt manufacturer, price, size and the like, the conventional practice prior to the improvements set forth in the above-referenced patent applications was to use a so-called "swift tag" involving a plastic filament which is passed through an opening in a tag bearing the marketing parameters and through one of the prong receiving openings of the belt blank and then secured at filament ends to remain with the belt until the filament is cut apart at checkout.
The '750 patent application provides a method for use in belt making wherein a marketing indicator is secured with the belt at the time of the assembly of the belt blank and the belt buckle. More particularly, in making belts having buckles of the type having a prong pivotally supported by an arm of the buckle frame, following the step of applying a belt-retaining loop member to the belt blank and buckle disposed therewith, a portion of a marketing indicator is applied to the undersurface of the belt blank, interiorly of the boundary of the subsequent stitching, thereby to be secured with the stitched assembly.
When the stitching is performed, as is customary, in an inverted disposition of the belt blank, the '750 practice looks to retentive application of the marketing indicator to the undersurface of the belt blank. To this end, the portion of the indicator which is disposed interiorly of the stitching, or at least a part of such portion, has an adhesive backing applied thereto for securement thereof to the belt blank. Accordingly, upon inversion of the belt blank, the indicator remains with the belt blank, without assembler assistance.
In commercially implementing the '750 practice, applicants have provided the marketing indicators individually successively on a reel which is rotatably supported adjacent a belt assembler's work station, such that the assembler may take an individual indicator from the reel and apply the indicator to the belt blank.
In the '941 application, applicants addressed a problem occurring in the course of coiling belts with marketing indicators assembled therewith, namely, that the indicators tended to take curl set upon belt coiling and accordingly projected away from the belt upon vertical hanging thereof. The solution provided in the '941 application was to select a material for the indicator which did not take a curl set, whereby the indicator following belt uncoiling, remains flat against the belt.